Hello Jack, and thank you for your offer of help - most kind. I'm not tech savvy but usually willing to have a go. Hopefully, this thread will be easily found by others with the same issue.
homepage address is AppleOk, let's see what's going on. Let's do a basic check:
1. Are there any malicious profiles installed on your Mac? To check:
2. Let's see what's going on with Safari:
- Go to System Preferences.
- Click Profiles.
- If there is any suspicious profile, select it and click the remove “–” button in the lower-left corner. If there isn’t a Profiles icon, you don’t have any profiles installed, which is normal.
- In Safari, choose Preferences from the Safari menu.
- In the window that opens, click the General icon (if necessary)
- Questions:
- What's your homepage?
- What it says in the " New windows open with " field?
You're being redirected to this "safe search" page when you open your browser or a new tab? or when you search for something?
Sorry, yes, nothing saying profile in system preferences. And yes, as soon as I search with Safari, the results are different to normal, with "safe search on" appearing top right.And there is no profile installed on your Mac, right?
You're being redirected to this "safe search" page when you open your browser or a new tab? or when you search for something?
Sorry, yes, nothing saying profile in system preferences. And yes, as soon as I search with Safari, the results are different to normal, with "safe search on" appearing top right.
Sorry - do I type those commands all in the box separated by a space?Open the Finder and type Shift+command+G. A pop-up box dubbed “Go to Folder” will appear.
Then, type the following three commands respectively:
~/Library/LaunchAgents
/Library/LaunchAgents
/Library/LaunchDaemons
Click “Go” and check whether there is any weird looking plists files (properties file). Usually, it has the "adobe" tag name.
Sorry, I meant press. Press these keys on your keyboard. Shift+Command+G.Sorry - do I type those commands all in the box separated by a space?
Got that, can open Finder. I meant do I type each of those 3 commands separately and look at the properties files? (I'm not great at this).Sorry, I meant press. Press these key on your keyboard. Shift+Command+G.
You can also select Finder > Go > Go to folder
Yes, you'll find in these folders a few files that end with the .plist extension. Check if there's any that seems suspicious, usually, they have the 'adobe' name but that's not always the case.Got that, can open Finder. I meant do I type each of those 3 commands separately and look at the properties files? (I'm not great at this).
Yes, that's the file that needs to be removed. You can remove this file.3rd search produces more including "adobe.fpsaud.plist"
Right, done that. Anything else I need to do?Yes, that's the file that needs to be removed. You can remove this file.
Restart your computer then check if the issue persists.Right, done that. Anything else I need to do?
Sadly, it does.Restart your computer then check if the issue persists.
Sorry to ask, very nervous now. This is safe, to send it to you?Ok, let's get an EtreCheck report.
EtreCheck is a simple little app to display the important details of your system configuration and allows you to copy that information to the Clipboard.
EtreCheck
www.etresoft.com
Run it, and copy/paste here the report.
Yes, you can review it if you like but it's basically a report that says what's going on with your computer. If you want you can send it over a private message https://malwaretips.com/conversations/add.Sorry to ask, very nervous now. This is safe, to send it to you?
Hello Jack, sorry to be suspicious, it's a horrible world. I had Apple support run diagnostics online and they confirm no Malware. Turns out this might be related to me changing broadband provider. Now looking at that.Did EtreCheck found any malicious programs? If yes, in the Sidebar, click the Security button.
Locate and remove entries under Adware and Unsigned files. Click the “Remove” button. Restart computer.